In October 2019 TRT World organised its third annual TRT World Forum under the theme “Globalisation in Retreat: Challenges and Opportunities”. During the two-day forum more than 1500 esteemed speakers and participants, including politicians, academics, journalists and members of civil society engaged in stimulating discussions on the challenges that lay before our world. As part of the TRT World Forum 2019, 15 Closed Sessions is held parallel to the 6 Keynote Speeches, 3 Exclusive Talks and 8 Public Sessions. The Closed Sessions were held as private roundtable discussions, conducted off the record, allowing speakers and participants to freely use the information received. Neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speakers, or that of any other participant, will be revealed.

This book is a collection of the Closed Session reports written by experts and academics on the basis of the speeches and discussions that took place in the session. In addition to the valuable discussions advanced in these sessions, the academic backgrounds, experience and expertise of the authors have also made this publication an important contribution to the academic literature. Accordingly, this book aims to reach both academic and non-academic readers. Moreover, the reports are written in language appropriate for general audiences, another strength of the Forum stemming from its media nexus.​​